» Issue 32: Spring 2003

Letter from the Acting President

Dear Members of the City & Guilds College Association

You will all know that our President, Professor Peter Hills, had been struggling with his health during most of last year. By early November it was apparent that he was losing his fight and on 16 December, he passed away. His obituary is inside this journal and I am sure that you would join me in saluting his memory and recognising his tremendous courage, outstanding loyalty, and total dedication to the Association during his last few months.

I was asked by Peter Hills to take over the President’s duties temporarily. Little did any of us know that this wonderful man and friend was soon to leave us.

Now that the Guilds have become a virtual College within the new organisation of Imperial College, I am happy to report that our members appear to be standing firmly together and confirming their identity as members of a great engineering association. They are bound by their love of the Guilds traditions, and their determination to help the current and future students via the Old Centralians Trust.

The four new major faculties of Imperial College - Engineering, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Medicine - reflect the College’s ongoing determination to achieve scientific and technological excellence in an exciting and challenging era. For many years the boundaries between medicine, science and engineering have been softened by the urgent need to co-operate with each other. These faculties, under one banner, will make dialogue and teamwork much simpler.

One cannot help seeing that this new development is analogous to a century ago, when the City and Guilds of London Institute agreed to let its Central Technical College become part of the burgeoning federation at South Kensington later to become Imperial College. City and Guilds were determined to preserve the Colleg’s identity, laying down that all teaching and research in engineering would be the responsibility of what then became City & Guilds College. Although this continued to be the case for several decades, City & Guilds College -and its Association -must now advance into the 21st century. I am sure that this is the way forward for all of us.

During the last year, members of the Association have shown great support for several events, including 'Walks with a Past President', Bo’s centenary celebrations, the House of Lords Dinner, the ever popular Decade Lunch, and the Networking Reception.

As you can see from the cover; Colleen, your Editor, went to New Zealand in December and did some networking with our Auckland contingent.

My apologies for the delay in publication; we hope to be back on schedule with the Autumn issue.

Yours sincerely

Sir Colin Terry